Knight Commission report – key implications of a FBS and NCAA split

What would happen if college football were to break away from the NCAA?

For years, there have been rumblings about a possible split between football at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) – but what if it actually happened?

In early December 2020, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics (Knight Commission), a panel of university presidents, former athletic directors and other leaders issued a report recommending the formal separation of the FBS from the rest of the NCAA. These recommendations could have a significant impact from both a financial and reputational standpoint, and reshape the college football landscape for years to come.

Although the Knight Commission does not have the authority to decide whether or not the two separate, the report prompts the question – what would a split from the NCAA mean?

Summary of Knight Commission recommendation

In its report, the Knight Commission makes three primary recommendations:

1. Create a new entity, independent of the NCAA and funded by College Football Playoff (CFP) revenue, to oversee the sport of football in the FBS and manage all related issues (e.g., athlete education, health and safety, revenue distribution, litigation, eligibility, enforcement, etc.).
2. The NCAA should continue to govern all other sports, including football in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and men’s basketball, under a reorganized governance system that would establish equal voting representation for all Division I conferences.
3. The NCAA and the new FBS football entity should adopt governing principles to “maintain college athletics as a public trust, rooted in the mission of higher education” and prioritize student athletes’ education, health, safety and success.

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the large majority of intercollegiate athletic programs had been operating at a financial deficit. In 2018-2019, only 25 Division I athletic departments out of nearly 350 generated revenue that exceeded their expenses. (All 25 of those programs participate in football at the FBS level and are members of a Power 5 conference.) Colleges and universities across the country have raised student fees to help cover costs and, in some cases, eliminated nonrevenue sports programs (e.g., gymnastics, swimming and diving, track and field, etc.) to free up budget dollars while spending large sums of money on coaching salaries and facility enhancements to “keep up” with their FBS competitors. The proposed new entity seeks to help refocus the NCAA back to its core purpose and prioritization of academics.